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Welcome to The CITE -- a blog on Course materials, Innovation, and Technology in Education, created by Mark Nelson and now part of the Publications Department of the National Association of College Stores. CITE is a pun with multiple meanings - referring to cite as in citation, something people reference; site as in location, website, or place people go to; and sight as in foresight or looking ahead to what is coming. Comments, discussion, feedback and ideas are welcome.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Making MOOCs Earn Their Keep

EdX may be a nonprofit organization, but it still has to pay its bills. It’s too early to tell exactly how the massive open online
course (MOOC) provider which started with a $30 million investment from Harvard
and MIT, will actually make money, but The Chronicle of Higher Educationreported on the platform's plans to create revenue moving forward.

The first approach, called the university self-service
model, will allow schools to use the edX platform for free as long as edX is
paid a portion of the revenue any course generates for the institution. EdX would collect an upfront fee and then
would receive a 50% cut of any revenue above the threshold.

In the second plan, called the edX-supported model, the company serves as a consultant and design partner for any course developed.
EdX gets more upfront cash in this model, but allows the university to earn 70%
of revenue the course generates after that. Schools can also choose a
payment method on a course-by-course basis, according to the agreement.

The edX agreement also provides the company with all
net profits from any third-party contract, such as book sales and proctoring
services. EdX already has a deal with
Pearson Vue to proctor MOOC examinations. It is also considering charging
students for certification from those proctored exams, charging publishers for referring
students to related textbooks, and for referring students to employment
services.